Clove's Bloodlust
by KandiKisses19
Summary: They taught her to always be fearless, to never trust anyone. Being a career set Clove up for success. But when she's thrown into the Games with her ex-boyfriend, old feelings resurface and she lets her guard down. Will Clove win the Hunger Games and make her family proud? Or is she doomed to fail?
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER ONE**

Clove woke up with a smile on her face. It was the morning of the Reaping and she was more than excited. She was going to volunteer as a tribute no matter which female was chosen. Even though she promised her best friend, Persephone that if she was picked, she'd back off, Clove knew that she wouldn't. _Persephone would understand. She knows how important this is to me._

Almost non-stop, Clove had been talking about winning the Hunger Games since she turned 12.

"Why don't you volunteer then, show us instead of just bragging about something that has never happened yet." Persephone had told Clove one day when they were 13. It was during the 72nd Reaping. Persephone could not understand why Clove was so positive about the Hunger Games. They really freaked Persephone out back then and Clove was just going on, and on, and on about the tactics she would use to take down the tributes, all the people she would kill. It made Persephone sick to think about.

"Fine, I will." Clove responded, sticking her chin out. After thinking about it a little more, she added, "when I'm 15."

"Ugh, whatever." Persephone said, exasperated. She was just glad for the conversation to be over.

The next year, when the girls were 14, Persephone started to feel almost the same about the Hunger Games that Clove did. Being Careers, they had trained for the possibility of being in the games since Clove turned 11, Persephone was 12 when she joined. And so, the week after the 73rd Reaping, Persephone and Clove were hanging out in the town square.

"I can't believe Menelaus got chosen to be the male tribute!" Clove was rambling about her boyfriend. He was 16 at the time. Menelaus was also apart of the District 2's Careers group. He was planning on volunteering anyway, but with the luck of the draw, his name was picked from the boys' glass ball of names. Clove had been dating Menelaus for about a month when he was chosen to represent District 2. She was so proud of him, not showing any worried emotions on her face or in her conversations. But, her thoughts were clouded with fear. She truly believed she was falling for Menelaus and her worst fear was him dying in the arena. She only dared to speak these thoughts aloud at night when her family was sleeping and she was alone in her room, staring at the moon.

"Oh, moon, you see everything that happens at night. Please, keep my Menelaus safe so he can return to me." She spoke this every night, with tears in her eyes, tossing and turning until she fell asleep to her nightmares. She dreamt of her and Menelaus being in the arena. They were the only two left and something had to be done. Every time this happened in her dreams, Clove murdered Menelaus in cold blood, without hesitation. She could see the pleading in his eyes, as the life drained out of them. She woke up every morning, screaming and crying and hating herself for thinking so selfishly and terribly. Another recurring nightmare of Clove's was that she would be alone in a freezing room. The walls were gray, the floor was made of ice and snow would be falling from the ceiling. She was completely naked and could not do anything to get warm. Then a window appeared on one of the walls and Menelaus' face would peek at her from the outside of it. Clove would scream for help but all Menelaus would do is laugh like Clove dying of hypothermia was the funniest thing ever. Clove would always wake up twisted up in her blankets, like she was trying desperately to get warm. When she had both nightmares, she'd wake up completely drenched in sweat and her heart would be racing.

Clove had had dreams every night of winning the 74th Hunger Games ever since the victor of the 73rd one was her boyfriend, Menelaus. _How great it would be to win the Hunger Games, just like him. We'd be the perfect couple, the envy of every one of District 2. _The smile on her face grew wider and she jumped out of bed. Clove glanced at her clock and saw that it was 7:14, about three hours earlier than she usually woke up. However, she was way too excited to go back to sleep. All she could see in her future was blood spilt by her hands, tributes dropping one-by-one, until she was the only one left.

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**_Thanks for reading my first ever fanfic! Constructive criticism is welcome. :) Please do whatever it is most authors on here ask you to do! _**


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO**

Clove had just finished getting ready for the Reaping and it was almost time to go to the town square. Everyone in District 2 was required to be there, no matter what their age or financial status. The only way you got a ticket out of showing up was if you were on your deathbed. But even if Clove were dying, she'd still want to be a part of the reaping.

Clove was so excited. She spent the last couple of hours getting ready so she would look good in front of the cameras when she volunteered to be a tribute. Her mom was worried about her, of course.

"If you don't want to volunteer, honey, that's okay." Her mom said to her this morning while wrapping her arms around her. Clove was not a hugger and almost immediately pulled away from her.

"Mom, I'll be fine. You don't have to worry about me." Clove rolled her eyes and turned around to finish putting on mascara. Her mom shortly left with a sniffle and Clove was afraid to turn back to face her, with the fear of seeing her mother cry. She knew that her mom cared for her deeply and felt guilty at the harsh words she spoke to her.

_Oh well. She'll get over it when she see's me crowned as the victor in the arena. _Clove smiled and thought about how to have her hairstylist do her hair.

A knock on her door startled Clove out of her thoughts.

"It's time to get in the car, Clove." Her father called out to her in his ever serious tone.

"Alright, dad!" She yelled back and started for her door. As his footsteps retreated, Clove thought about her relationship with her father. He was almost always gruff and disinterested in daily things that happened with her and her family. The only time Clove ever saw her father was in the morning, during breakfast. He was always working at God knows where, doing who knows what, and Clove was always out, hanging with her friends or her boyfriend. She had endless money from her father's career. _It's weird- I don't even know what he does and yet, I'm always spending the money he earns from doing it. _

Clove shook the thoughts about her father away and focused on her. That was what was most important right now. She had to get psyched up for the Reaping- and the Games. Clove walked outside and got into one of her family's luxurious cars. It had room for seven people, however only her main family was currently in it. Her father was driving, her mother was in the seat next to him, the middle row was empty, and in the back row sat Clove and her sister, Cady. Cady just turned 12 last week and she could not be more annoying about it. She brought it up yet again on the drive up to the town square.

"So as you all know, I'm 12 years old now, practically a teenager," Clove rolled her eyes for the second time that day while her overly peppy, obnoxious sister continued, "and that means that I could totally volunteer to be a tribute. Maybe I'll even get picked!" Cady's never talked about entering the Games before, and that made Clove really ticked off.

"Oh my God, Cady! You know that I'm going to be the female tribute this year. Who knows, maybe you'll get picked as the male." Clove gave Cady a smirk while she was searching for the words to a comeback. Before she could come up with one, their father bellowed out.

"Cady, your sister is three years older than you, which makes her your senior. You're enthusiasm is great, but she is going to be a tribute this year... maybe you can try next year." Their father always favored Clove, it was obvious. Which was just fine with her since she always got extra money in her allowance every week. Besides, it was also obvious that her mother favored Cady more. But they could have their mother-daughter shopping trips and heart-to-heart conversations. All Clove cared about was holding money, counting money, spending money, hanging out with her friends, making out with her boyfriend, and thinking about winning the Hunger Games.

"Yeah, Cady. So shut up. You would die in the first five minutes, at most, anyway." Clove flashed Cady an evil smile while Cady just stuck out her tongue at Clove and turned her head away, looking out her window. Clove knew she had probably made her sister cry but didn't care. _Ugh, what a crybaby._ She then stared at her sister for two seconds, to see if she could antagonize her a bit more, but when Cady raised her sleeve to her eyes, Clove turned away herself and looked out her own window. Cady was so sensitive about everything and Clove knew that, sometimes working it to her own advantage. _She doesn't have what it takes to be in the Games, anyway. I'm just pulling her head out of her ass before it's too late._ The rest of the car ride was silent except for Clove's mother's humming of some old song from her generation.

After driving for about 15 minutes, the Fuhrman family shuffled out of the car and filed into the town square. Her parents went to go stand with the other parents while her and Cady got all signed in, which included having their fingers be pricked. Clove went first and barely felt anything. Cady was after Clove and almost passed out from the sight of her own blood. This caused Clove to scoff while she was directed to stand with the other 15 year olds from her district. To pass the time, Clove looked at the stage in the front of the square. It was ginormous, high off the ground, and had a red curtain covering the back. Over the curtain was a giant screen. There were speakers surrounding the stage and a microphone in the front middle of it. To the left of the microphone was the glass ball of potential male tribute names and to the right was the female one.

After around 30 minutes, the sound of feedback rushed through the square, causing the majority of the people there to groan and hold their hands over their ears. Then everyone heard one finger tap on the microphone and immediately quieted down. This is because the tribute overseer for District 2 was a very strict, old woman. Candola Kitsch took the microphone from the stand and paced the stage with it. She was from the capitol and Cady had always been fascinated with the capitol and everything that had to do with it. Clove, however, thought people from the capitol looked ridiculous and could not understand why you would want to get dressed up in all the get-up they wear everyday.

"Happy Hunger Games everyone. And may the odds be ever in your favor." Candola rang out over the crowd. She always sounded bored when she spoke the phrase, in her odd capitol accent. Candola had extremely pale skin, but with a hint of blue with it. It looked like she had it dyed blue months ago and it was wearing off. She was wearing a short, bright blue wig and had a weird, yellow hat on. She was also wearing a yellow pantsuit with blue high heels on. She had in yellow fake eyelashes and yellow lipstick on. Clove nearly laughed every time she looked at her. Candola always focused on two colors and wore them to death. _She has to know how completely stupid she looks!_

"I will now hand the microphone over to President Snow so he can enlighten us on this year's Hunger Games." Candola gave the microphone to the old man and whispered something to him. President Snow laughed back at her and Candola smiled as she sat down. The only time she ever smiled seemed to be when she was talking to President Snow. Clove got disturbing mental images in her head and made a gagging sound. While the president droned on and on, Clove felt a hand firmly grab her shoulder and another one covered her mouth, rendering her unable to breathe.

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	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER THREE**

Clove's immediate reaction was to kick her leg backwards to try to hit the person who was holding her mouth and nose. She heard a female shriek and the hands released her.

"Ow! Seriously, Clove?" The shriek and the hands belonged to Clove's best friend, Persephone.

"Well, you really should know better than to sneak up on me." Clove tried her best at sounding calm and cool when she was still freaking out inside at not being able to breathe.

Persephone gave Clove a weird look. "You could try a little harder to not be a bitch, Clove."

"I'm not the one who tried to kill someone."

"Oh, please. I was just saying 'hello'. And I wanted to remind you that if my name gets picked, you better not try to take my place."

Clove stuck her tongue out at Persephone and glanced back at the stage. The president was now showing that stupid video of District 13. A lot of Clove's friends didn't even believe that District 13 ever existed and that it was just a ploy so the capitol could keep everyone in line.

"So, are you excited?" Persephone asked Clove. She had a big smile on her face, showing off her recently whitened teeth.

"Duh. I'm going to get so many sponsors, it'll be impossible for me to die out there."

But it didn't seem like Persephone heard her. She was just smiling like a ninny and staring at the group of potential male tributes. "Who do you think is going to be picked for male?"

Clove scanned the possible suspects and shrugged her shoulders. "I guess it could be any of them."  
"No, what I'm asking is who do you _hope _is going to be picked. Duh, Clove." Persephone whipped her head back towards the boys and her long blue-black hair smacked Clove in the face.

Clove made a spitting noise to get her friends hair out of her mouth and scoffed. "Really, Seph?"

"Sorry, I forgot that I left it down today. Ooh look, there's Kellan. He's cute."  
"He's too wimpy. I need someone nice and strong to be my companion."

"Lookin' for a new boyfriend already, Clove?"

"No, you idiot. He needs to be strong to pick off all the other tributes. Then when us careers are the only ones left, I'll murder them all with my quickness and throwing skills."

Persephone looked Clove up and down then laughed. "Really? You're going to kill five or more people before any of them has a chance to react and fight back."

Clove felt stupid and realized she probably shouldn't have even opened her mouth. She was getting too cocky before the Games even started. She decided to just change the subject. Persephone wouldn't even notice anyway. "Where's Menelaus, do you think?"

She took the bait. "Oh yeah! I wonder if there's like, a place where the past winners stand? Or maybe they just get to stay home?"

Clove hated it when Persephone made everything she said sound like a question. She always did that when she was trying to impress a guy or when she got over-excited.

"They're probably backstage. Or something, I don't know." Clove got a little flustered. Maybe she shouldn't have said anything again. Because, she didn't even know where her own boyfriend was. She just didn't think to ask him before. Clove realized she'd done a lot of talking about herself to Menelaus lately and felt a little guilty. But luckily, Persephone got distracted by something else.

"Look, look! There's Cato!" Persephone was standing on her tip-toes and pointing in the direction of the 16-year-old guys.

"Persephone, stop! People are starting." Clove started to hide her face with her hand. Persephone was always loud and didn't care or didn't know that she was. She just loved to be the center of attention. But Clove couldn't help herself, she had to look in the direction she was pointing. Sure enough, there was Cato, standing right at the edge of the other guys. He was laughing and talking with someone else from their district, someone Clove didn't know.

"Oh, relax. No one's looking. Everyone's too 'enthralled' with Snow's speech."

"I really hope he doesn't get picked. I don't know what I'd do." Cato was Clove's ex-boyfriend and their break-up did not go well. Clove still wasn't sure who broke up with who but they always fought and their last fight was the biggest one they'd ever had. She wasn't sure why she ever dated Cato; probably because he's very attractive. Girls always hung all over Cato and Clove hated it. She may or may not have threatened to kill a few of them.

Persephone gave Clove a hug and whispered to her, "You could always kill him right away."

Clove smiled at her friend's bluntness. "Thanks, Sephie. But hopefully we won't even be in that situation."

"I will now draw the name of the female tribute." Candola's voice rang out over the crowd again and Clove tuned back in to what was going on. Her heart started to pound as Candola ever so slowly dug her hand around in the giant glass ball. She finally pulled out a name.

"Clove Fuhrman! Come to the stage."

Clove had been picked! This is what she was hoping for. She wouldn't have to battle with any other careers over the spot because she had first choice. And she was definitely going to choose to fight in the Games. Clove was aware the cameras were on her as she was walking up the stage so she tried not to smile. She needed to look as ominous and threatening as possible. This is how she was going to get sponsors and this was the hook she was going to use for her interview with Caesar Flickerman. Clove made it all the way to the stage and stood next to Candola.

"Hello, dear. Would you like to fight in the Games?" She asked her.

"Yes, ma'am. Very much." Clove had to smile as she answered, but she tried to make it look as evil as possible.

"Alright. On to the males." Clove watched Candola as she spent even more time digging around in the male ball. After what seemed like ages, she finally pulled a name out.

"Cato Ludwig! Please join Clove on the stage."

_Oh no, it can't be._ Clove's mood fell as she heard who was picked. Her ex-boyfriend.

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	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER FOUR**

Cato joined Clove on the stage and she tried to avoid looking at him. _Great. My ex-boyfriend is my fellow tribute. _Then Clove's eyes lit up when she started thinking about what that truly meant. _I could kill him. He could be gone forever. Out of my life. _Clove dared herself to look at Cato. She saw that he was already looking at her. He gave her a little wave and Clove gave Cato a villainous smile. He had no idea what she had in store for him.

"Thank you everyone for participating in the Reaping! Make sure to tune in to the Games on television." Candola did her closing statement and walked off the stage. Everyone clapped and started filing out of the town square.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Cato seemed to be asking the air in front of him. Clove decided to try to earn Cato's trust so he wouldn't suspect her plot of killing him.

"I guess we follow Candola." Clove didn't wait for Cato to respond and she started walking in the direction Candola went.

Cato went behind Clove and grabbed her arm, stopping her.

"What do you think you're doing?" Clove demanded as she turned around to face Cato. She tried to sound harsh but as soon as she made eye contact with him, her voice turned soft. She didn't even pull her arm away from his hand.

Cato was standing about two feet away from Clove, his face even closer, ducking down to her level. "Hey, Clove."

That was all he said to her. And yet, Clove could already feel her heart pounding at the sound of him speaking her name. _His eyes are so blue. _She shook the thoughts out of her head and finally pulled her arm away from Cato.

"Hey," she said back, while brushing herself off. "Is there a point to this conversation or are you trying to make me swoon?" Clove broke eye contact and focused on the microphone stand.

"Uh, there's no hard feelings between us, right Clove?" Cato looked like a lost little boy, seeking Clove's guidance. She softened and responded, "Of course, not. The past is the past. Especially now." She didn't really mean those words, but she had to work her angle starting now to gain Cato's trust.

Cato smiled at Clove. "Thanks. I feel the same way." They stopped their conversation and went backstage.

As soon as Clove opened the curtain, they were bombarded by cheering and applause. All of the past winning tributes from District 2 were sitting in an area behind the stage. Clove immediately started scanning the crowd for her boyfriend, Menelaus. She finally spotted him, but before she could run to him, two other past winners came up to her and Cato.

"You must be this year's tributes," trilled a female with bright red hair. She hugged Clove and Clove noticed that this woman smelled heavily of strawberries. "I'm Scarlet, and I'm going to be your mentor, Clove." Scarlet gave her a warm smile and hugged her again. _This woman sure is peppy._ Scarlet was slightly taller than Clove, her being 5'3''. She had a slinky black dress on and was very tan. Her hair was long and wavy and she had bright brown eyes.

Scarlet led Clove away so they could talk about strategies. "It's never too early to think about what you're going to do in the arena."

Clove finally recalled which Games Scarlet was from. She was picked for the 68th Games when she was 18, so that made her 24 now. Clove remembered watching her play when she was nine. She underestimated Scarlet then. She could remember when Scarlet turned from seeming like a scared little girl to a dangerous threat.

_It was the third night in the Games. Only eight people had been lost so far. The camera was locked on Scarlet, on the impasse situation she was in. She was noticeably trembling and the knife in her hand was shaking vigorously. _

_"Wassamatta, Scarlet? Can't stand to lose your lover?" Pip from District 4 was holding Scarlet's best friend and fellow District member, Jago, in a choke hold. He was losing air fast and Scarlet hadn't killed anyone yet in the Games. She could and would kill Pip for her best friend's life, if she didn't have an arrow aimed at her head. Jess from District 8 was standing ten feet away, behind Scarlet, and she was very skilled at using a bow and arrows. _

_"Go ahead, princess. Make your move. It's you, or your boyfriend here," Jess spoke venomously. Other tributes were starting to crowd around the scene. Scarlet was starting to go into fight-or-flight mode and she still wasn't sure what her body was going to do. She looked around at all the people gathered around. They were all staring at her, waiting for her first move. She was sure that's what everyone back in their homes were doing. Scarlet was starting to question why she even accepted participating in the Games in the first place. She wasn't a career. But her name was drawn, and she decided last-minute that she wanted to represent District 2 in the 68__th __Hunger Games. _

_"No, Jess. It's both of us." Scarlet said, finally deciding on what she was going to do. It was risky, but she had to do something. Scarlet side-stepped to the left so she was in front of Pip. _

_Jess laughed at pulled the arrow back, tightening the bow-string. "I'm afraid that's the wrong choice, sweetheart." She released the arrow._

_Scarlet was able to duck in time. Everyone held their breath to see what would happen next. The arrow was sailing straight for Pip. He didn't react quickly enough, though, and was pierced right in his eye. He let go of Jago and fell to the ground, dead. _

_Jess ran for Pip, screaming and crying. Right as she ran past Scarlet, she raised her knife and slit Jess' throat. She gave Scarlet a pained look as she collapsed. Jess shortly after died from the wound Scarlet gave her. _

After that, all the other tributes stayed away from Scarlet, and her precious Jago. Almost to the end of Scarlet's Games, there were three tributes left. Her, Jago, and the girl from District 1. The girl killed Jago so Scarlet killed her, thus, making her the victor.

"Real quick, Scarlet. If you don't mind, can I please see my boyfriend, Menelaus?" He was all Clove could think about at the moment, and she needed to apologize to him.

"Oh, sure. I guess we still have plenty of time to talk strategy." Scarlet motioned for Menelaus to join them, then she went off to talk to the other past victors.

Clove immediately hugged Menelaus, something she had never really done.

"Woah, I guess you missed me." Menelaus squeezed Clove and then set her down.

"I'm so sorry, Menelaus." Clove looked up at him with pleading eyes.

"Sorry for what?"

"Sorry for making everything about me lately." Clove kicked a nearby pebble and focused on it.

Menelaus tweaked her nose, causing her to look back at him. "I don't mind, Clove. Really. I love talking about you."

Clove laughed and kissed her boyfriend.

"And you don't have to worry about anything else. Scarlet's a great mentor," Menelaus said when they were done smooching.

"I know, she is one of my favorite victors." Clove glanced over at Cato and saw him deep in conversation with whom Clove could only assume was his mentor.

Menelaus saw where Clove was looking. "And don't worry about Cato, either. You could totally take him."

Clove sighed dramatically. "I suppose I don't have anything else in the world to worry about then, do I?"

Menelaus picked Clove up and gave her another hug. "I can't wait until we're known as, 'the victor couple'," she said dreamily.

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**_Thanks so much for taking the time to read my fanfic! Please let me know what you think with a review and if you like how the story is going, don't forget to follow and favorite. "May the odds be ever in your favor"!  
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	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER FIVE**

Clove was in a tiny, 8x8 room, waiting to speak with her loved ones before she got on the train, capitol bound. Her parents entered first. "Five minutes, folks," a voice spoke from the other side of the doors. Her mother nodded to the voice and ran in to hug her daughter. Clove accepted it and even hugged her back.

"You're gonna do great, sweetie," her mother cooed to her. Clove smiled at her mom's caring and kissed her on the cheek. She went to sit on a nearby chair and Clove's father went up to her next.

"I am not worried about you at all, my lovely Clover. You are going to make this family proud." Clove's dad put his hand on her cheek and she held it. He hadn't used his nickname for her for a long time, on account of Clove hating it. She wished that she could go back and treat her parents better.

"I will, dad."

Clove's mom started crying and Clove spent the next four minutes trying to comfort her.

"That's it, folks," the voice spoke again. Her parents exited the room almost as quickly as they entered.

Clove's sister, Cady, went in the room next. "I wanted to come in separately so I wouldn't have to deal with mom's mushiness."

"I understand that. She was pretty mushy." Clove and Cady hugged, then Cady said, "I love you so much, Clove. You know that, right?" Cady's voice broke at the end of her question.

Clove felt a tear roll down her own cheek but quickly brushed it away. "I do. And I love you, too, sis. Even if you do get on my nerves sometimes... all the time." Cady started crying and Clove had to spend the rest of their time comforting her, too.

"Time's up, little miss." There was that voice again. The door opened.

"I guess I'm just as mushy as mom, huh?" Cady remarked.

"That's okay, you're just as loving," Clove whispered to her. Cady went out the door, wiping her eyes.

The next person to enter Clove's room was her boyfriend. All they did for the whole five minutes was make out, and that was just fine with Clove.

"Alright loverboy, get out of there," the voice chided when their time was up.

"Knock 'em dead, babe." Those were Menelaus' last words to Clove, and they couldn't be more perfect. Clove grinned and thought about doing just that.

Persephone was the last person to visit her. "Hey, girl!" She squealed and ran over to Clove.

"Seph! I still can't believe this is actually happening."

"You're living the dream." Persephone squealed again and sat down. Clove sat in the chair next to her. "You should volunteer next year. Although you might have to fight Cady to do it," Clove said.

"Maybe." Persephone's voice sounded far away and she started to stare off into space. Clove shook her playfully. "What's wrong, girlie?"

Persephone sighed. "I just don't want you to get hurt."

Clove scoffed. "I'll be fine. Trust me. I've had all the training. And I've got Scarlet Price as my mentor." Seph's eyes lit up. "She's my favorite victor! You know I see her at the mall, sometimes." Clove spent the rest of their time just trying to keep Persephone's mind off of the Games.

After she left, Clove had a couple of seconds to think. _All I've done is comfort everyone else. I'm the one going into the arena. It's a good thing I know I'm going to win or I'd be pissed._

Clove was led outside of the meeting room and was joined up with Cato again. Candola silently led them somewhere. "How were your visits?" He asked her.

"Poignant yet enjoyable. You?"

"Heartfelt yet boring." They both laughed at their lame joke. "What's your mentor like?" Clove asked Cato.

"He's... very friendly."

"What do you mean?"  
"Just that he's kind of loud. And he's so nice to everyone. It's Pierse Masacco, from the 60th Hunger Games. I think he might have been wasted."

Clove laughed. "I don't remember anything from those Games. I was about one. Did he tell you anything?"

Cato shrugged and slowed his steps down. "He said that he won because he was nice to all the tributes and tried to make fake alliances with all of them. Then he betrayed them all and killed them."

"Wow. He sounds very two-faced. Be careful with his advice."

"Well, him and Scarlet will be working together. I'm sure I'll be fine."

Clove nodded and kept walking. This was the first time that her and Cato had talked amicably since their break-up. It was freaking her out. Clove was surprised at the amount of times she had to remind herself that she was still with Menelaus.

Candola stopped in front of a train. "Here we are," she said with a wide smile, "the train that's going to take us to the most wonderful place in the world, the capitol."

Clove and Cato stopped to stare at the sleek piece of machinery before them. They had never seen a train before, just lots and lots of cars.

"How fast does it go?" Asked Cato. The doors to the train opened and Candola walked up to the steps. She turned around to face Cato. "Very fast." She went up the steps and disappeared on the train.

Clove and Cato hurried to catch up. "We're right under the capitol, it's going to take us like, two seconds to get there," Clove said in amazement. They got on the train and the doors whooshed closed behind them.

Scarlet motioned excitedly for Clove and Cato to join her and Pierse. They were sitting by the most glorious food Clove had ever seen. There was meat, pastries, fruits, and veggies. So much that it would be impossible for them all to even make a dent in the food, even if they were stranded on the train for three days.

"Sit down, sit down!" Scarlet said and patted on the couch next to them. There were couches lining the walls of the entire section of the train. Candola walked in from the other side of the train and sat down on the couch opposite of the other four and the food. She pulled out a compact and started dusting her cheeks with blue powder.

Cato grabbed a large chocolate cupcake and sat down by Pierse. Clove grabbed a small strawberry cookie and sat next to Scarlet.

"The food on the train is great, but the food in the capitol is fabulous! Just wait, they have everything you could ever want there. Even the shower has a hundred different settings!" Scarlet was speaking so fast that Clove could barely keep up.

"It will take approximately three hours to get to the capitol," Candola said when Scarlet let her get a word in edgewise. Clove nodded and Cato just said, "Sweet", then went back to eating his cupcake.

Pierse then started talking about his experiences in the capitol and Cato seemed to be hanging on every word. Clove didn't really care and tuned him out. She got bad vibes from the guy.

Pierse looked to be in his early thirties. He had long, dark brown hair and eyes that seemed almost black. Clove had to admit that he was very handsome, for being old. And from the look in Scarlet's eyes, she thought so, too.

After what seemed like hours of Pierse's droning, he took Cato somewhere else. Clove had just tuned back in to reality when their footsteps were already receding.

"Where are they going?" Clove asked Scarlet.

"To talk strategy on the other end of the train. Boys like to be alone when they're discussing murder techniques."

Candola stood up. "I'm going to retire to my quarters for the trip. See you girls at the capitol."

"So, I guess now's the time to tell me how to survive in the arena," Clove said. She was so excited to hear from Scarlet and what she did to get out alive.

"Alright," she rotated her body to Clove and scooched closer to her, "one of the main things is sponsors. People that can give things to you such as food and medicine, when you need them most. Being from District 2, it's pretty easy to acquire such things, but it helps if the audience likes you. What's your edge going to be?"

Clove had already been thinking about it since she started being a career and didn't miss a beat after Scarlet's question. "I'm going to appear threatening and bloodthirsty. I hope to make all the other tributes afraid of me, before I even get in the arena."

Scarlet nodded slowly at her response. "That's good. And you'll do that starting with your training sessions. Get in with the other careers, which won't be hard. What are your talents?"

Clove thought about it for a second. "I'm fast and quiet. And I'm really good at throwing knives. I never miss my target." She loved boasting to Scarlet. Clove knew that she was good at throwing knives, and she loved to brag to anyone who would listen.

"That's great! I became very good at using the knife myself. So in the training sessions, show the other careers that you're a force to be reckoned with. There will be knives and plenty of targets there. Just don't start any fights with any of the other tributes. That looks really bad and it can affect your final training score."

Clove was taking all the information in. She wanted to go in the Games with as much confidence and knowledge as possible. Scarlet continued her speech. "Next will be your interview with Caesar. He's very nice so he'll make things easier for you if you get nervous. Just don't forget your threatening persona while up there. Then will be the best part- the actual Hunger Games! Make sure to get a weapon as quickly as possible. Then you're going to want to try to kill as many people as possible, to keep them away from the Cornucopia. Remember to not chase after anyone if you don't get to them. Always stay by the Cornucopia during the Bloodbath. And try not to kill any of your fellow alliance members. The rest will follow through on its own from there. You'll do fine, I know it." Scarlet finally stopped talking and gave Clove a warm smile.

"I think I got everything," Clove declared.

After a while of making small talk and eating the delicious food, Scarlet looked out the window across from them. "Ooh yay! We're in the capitol! Wave to the crowd, they like it."

Clove turned around and kneeled on the couch. Sure enough, outside of her window was the capitol. People were milling around all over the place. They all looked ridiculous to Clove, in their colorful wigs and loud clothing. Some of them had dyed skin, some had weird body shapes and facial implants from plastic surgery. The train slowed down quite a bit and people outside started noticing it. They looked in the windows and when they saw Clove, they started waving. Clove waved back but kept herself from smiling. She had to keep up her persona.

The train pulled into the station and stopped completely. Scarlet exited first, then Clove, Cato, Pierse, and finally, a tired looking Candola. Scarlet led them to a gigantic building. "This is where we'll be staying. District 2 stays on the second floor, so you don't have very far to wait on the elevator," she commented.

"You two can hang out in your rooms until your prep teams come. When you feel hungry, just order room service. Suppertime is coming," Candola chattered as she hurried ahead of the others. _How she can move so quickly in those heels of hers, I'll never know. _Clove, Cato, Scarlet, and Pierse all entered the building and got in the elevator. The elevator was pretty large, yet Scarlet stood quite close to Pierse. It didn't take long for the elevator to stop and the doors to open, since they only had to go up one floor. There was a large hallway that seemed to go on forever. To the right and left of it were rows of doors, just like a hotel.

"Cato, you're in room 201. Clove is in room 203, Scarlet in 202, and me in 204," Pierse rattled off from a message on his phone.

"Don't hesitate to visit, sweetie, if you have any questions," Scarlet said to Clove. She then blew a kiss to her and disappeared in her room. Pierse was just waiting around by the elevator, so Cato and Clove went to their rooms. After Clove closed her door, she opened it again and peeked out. She saw Pierse go in Scarlet's room, and laughed silently to herself. _I hope I don't have any questions for Scarlet. I wouldn't want to interrupt anything... or walk in on it._ She closed the door again and walked around in her hotel room.

The main room had a ginormous bed, a tiny kitchen, and a living area. There was a small dressing room off of the main room, and a door leading to a fancy bathroom. Clove went in the dressing area first and found the armoires to be filled with clothes. She picked out a simple orange tee and black jeans to put on after her shower. Then she went in the bathroom and just stood staring at everything in it. Even the toilet looked high-tech. It was square and silver. When she walked near it, the lid opened by itself and colorful lights lining the inside of the bowl lit up. When Clove took her shower, she didn't even know which buttons to push, so she just experimented with all of them. There were settings to make the water flow different, to change the temperature, and to change the angle of the shower head. There were also many different levers that dispensed different smelling shampoos and soaps. Clove had to say that it was the best shower she had ever taken and stood wishing for a moment that she lived in the capitol. She finally got out because she was hungry. She went back in the main room to dry off and change.

After she was done, Clove was startled when she noticed a tiny slip of paper on her bed. _That wasn't there before._ She walked slowly to it and opened the paper. Inside of it was a note that read, _Come see me in my room. -Cato._

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	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER SIX**

Clove was holding the note from Cato in her hand. She crumpled it and threw it on the floor. _He just came in here while I was in the shower and left a note. Seriously?_ _What ever happened to knocking?_ Still, Clove was curious as to what Cato wanted so she went over to his room.

Clove decided to just walk in like Cato did to her. "I'm not knocking because neither did you," she called out. Cato wasn't in sight.

Two seconds later he walked out of the bathroom. "Man, have you seen the toilet? I didn't know something so gross could look so classy." Cato laughed and walked over to Clove.

Ignoring his statement, Clove gave Cato an angry look. "You came in my room while I was showering to leave a _note_ asking me to come over here? What the hell?"

"Yeah, I thought it would be cute."

"_Cute?_ You freak!" Clove's voice raised two octaves.

Cato started laughing hysterically.

"What's so funny?" She was yelling at him so loud, she thought that the entire floor of the hotel could hear her.

"You're getting so worked up about this. That's your trademark, Clove. You always used to do this when we were together." Cato's tone softened by the end of his statements.

Clove looked at the ground. It was true, Cato always seemed to bring out Clove's crazy side. It wasn't always a bad thing, they would sometimes laugh about it later. But for some reason, the last fight her and Cato had, they didn't laugh about it later. Cato had cheated on Clove with some hussy in her grade. Clove had to find out about it from the girl because she felt guilty. Her own boyfriend couldn't even tell her the truth.

"Well, some things are worth getting worked up about," Clove snapped. She knew that Cato knew that she was talking about when he cheated on her. She knew that it would hurt him.

Cato's mood deflated. Since him and Clove broke up, she always brought up that one stupid mistake he made. "I'm sorry, Clove," he apologized for the hundredth time.

Clove sighed and sat down on one of the chairs in the living room area. "Whatever. The past is in the past, like I said before. I'm sorry that I brought it up."

Cato's face relaxed and he turned on the television. "So the reason I wanted you to come over was so that we could watch the tributes getting picked from the other districts. See our competition."

Clove felt a twinge of excitement. She loved watching this in previous games, and now she was a part of it. "Or lack thereof." They both laughed and waited as Caesar gave an introduction to the 74th Hunger Games. District 1 was first, obviously.

"Okay, these are our friends, so be nice," Cato said.

Clove fake scoffed. "Aren't I always nice?"

The first was a girl who volunteered. "Her name is Glimmer? Oh my God, her parents hate her."

Cato gave Clove a playful shove. "See? This is what I'm talking about. Besides, you two could become the closest of friends."

"And we could totally, like talk about shoes ALL DAY!" Clove did her best impression of a valley girl accent. She must have nailed it, because she had Cato doubled over laughing. Clove had almost forgotten how cute Cato was when he laughed. Then she realized she was thinking about Cato. Cato, the one who had broken her heart, and then didn't even bother to tell her about it. She turned the volume of the T.V. up and told Cato to shut up. "The next tribute's being picked."

Cato raised his eyebrows at her, but didn't say anything. The next person was an attractive male with sandy colored hair who volunteered.

"Wow. This guy looks like a douche," Cato said.

Clove gave Cato another angry look. "You guys could end up being best friends," she mimicked Cato's deep voice. He laughed at her unintentional joke and the tension dissipated. Clove just couldn't _not _feel easygoing around Cato.

"Hey, look at that foxy lady!" Clove said when her name was called. She was proud at herself for looking so confident while walking on stage.

"But how about that guy? He's pretty handsome," Cato remarked when he stepped on stage. Clove agreed with Cato, but of course she didn't say anything.

District 3 came and went and Clove didn't think anyone stood out. The girl from District 4 was picked. She had no make-up on and brown hair in a simple ponytail. She actually looked normal and down-to-earth. "We can be friends with her," Clove remarked. Cato nodded as they waited for the male. It was a scrawny 13-year-old who got picked. He had long and curly brown hair. "Ew, no," Clove said.

"Agreed, we can finish him off in the Bloodbath." Cato snickered.

Clove was bored out of her mind until District 11 came along. "Aw, look. A little girl. She'll be easy to kill off in the Bloodbath, too." Then the male was picked.

"Oh my gosh, look at the size of that guy!" Cato looked slightly shaken.

"We could always make an alliance with him," Clove reassured Cato.

Cato looked a little better. "That's true. There's no way he'll say no. Getting in with us is the highest honor."

"Of course," Clove agreed. The last District shown was District 12.

"Oh, another little girl, what a pity. Oh wait! Someone's volunteering for her, aw it's her sister. Wow. Too easy," Cato was remarking throughout the scene.

"12 always gets picked off early. This'll be no different," Clove said with a yawn. She realized just how tired she was from the day's events. She felt her eyelids grow heavy, and before the boy from 12 got called, Clove fell asleep.

...

When Clove woke up, she was in her own bed. Or at least, her hotel room's bed. She was surprised that Cato had carried her all the way back to her own room. Although, she was pretty tiny. Clove looked at the clock on the nightstand. 10:24 a.m. Her eyes shot open. She would be meeting with her prep team in less than an hour! Clove quickly ordered room service and ate an orange while she was picking out today's outfit. She wouldn't be wearing it for long, but it was fun to look at all the different clothes in the dressers. She decided on a fitted black tee, pink skinny jeans, and silver flats. _Guess I'm feeling preppy today. 'Glimmer' must have gotten to me._

Clove had just finished eating her oatmeal when there was a knock on the door. It was Candola, to escort her and Cato to their respective Remake Centers, where their prep teams were going to 'clean them up'.

Clove had been in the Remake Center for two hours and she was extremely bored. She was scrubbed down with gritty soap, got a mani-pedi, and got waxed. Her prep team were two very odd individuals. There was Dresetta, a very slim and young-looking female. She was tall and had bird-like features. Whether they were implanted in her or not, Clove would probably never know. Her hair was almost a perfect square and dyed green. Her skin was a normal shade, however she had tattoos all over her face. The other was a male named Jazz. He was almost as tall as Dresetta, except he wasn't wearing heels like her. He had very spiky, jet-black hair with red tips. He had a large, black mustache, that also had red tips. Clove thought they both looked super creepy and tried not to talk to them.

"Alright, dear. We're all done," Dresetta announced as her and Jazz stepped back to admire their work. The last thing they did was put Clove's hair up in a pile of braids, and her hands flitted up to it immediately.

"No, no, no. Don't touch it," Jazz scolded as he swatted Clove's hand away. Clove gave him a threatening look and he backed away.

"We did so great! You actually look okay now," Dresetta gushed. Clove found it hard to be offended by her comment, considering how terrifying her and Jazz looked.

Jazz gave Clove's hair one last probe. "We'll go and get your stylist now." Jazz and Dresetta left Clove alone. She studied her nails. They were so perfectly rounded and clean. She didn't think it would be possible for her nails to look this way, considering she had a slight habit of biting them. Then Clove realized that ever since she'd been hanging out with Cato again, the nail-biting stopped. She put a hand up to her hair to touch it again, just as the door swung open. Clove instinctively dropped her hand and waited to see what her stylist would look like.

A short female waltzed in and Clove noticed that she was wearing sandals, not high heels. She breathed a sigh of relief and took the rest of her in. She had long and sleek straight hair that almost reached her waist. It was platinum blonde with pink streaks and parted down the middle. She was wearing a white tunic dress that almost made her look like an angel. She had black eyeliner caked around her eyes and hot pink lipstick on, with a ring in her lip.

"Hi there! I'm Avril, your stylist." Clove gave a slight wave and waited for Avril to be done examining her body. "It looks like Dres and Jazz did a good job. The hairstyle is a favorite of Jazz's."

"Yeah. He almost cut my hand off for trying to touch it," Clove responded. Avril laughed a genuine, warm laugh. Something Clove rarely heard from members of the Capitol.

"That sounds like Jazz. You must be starving! Come, put on your robe and let's eat."

Clove did as she was told and heard her stomach growl when she entered the dining room. The table had platters of steak and some green soup. There were also purple baby carrots and a delicious looking fruit salad. But what enticed Clove the most was little, four-leaf clover shaped rolls. "Wow. This looks amazing!"

Avril laughed warmly again. "It better. The chefs spent the whole morning preparing it." She sat down on a couch and Clove sat on the one across from her. Avril started to pile a plate with the fruit salad and the meat, while Clove took a little of everything, except taking a lot of the rolls. She bit into one and felt the flavors dancing on her tongue.

Avril had four bites of steak and started talking again. "So Clove. As you know, for the opening ceremonies, tributes are dressed to their districts."

"Right. And mine's masonry." Clove was waiting expectantly to see what crazy outfit she'd be wearing.

"Yes. And masonry includes bricks. And bricks are red. So you will be wearing a red dress."

Clove smiled. This was just the type of thing she'd been hoping for. Not some ridiculous old Greek or Roman get-up but actual fashion. "I can't wait."

A few hours later, Clove was in her dream dress. It was a deep red and went down to her ankles. Around the left side of the collar were poufy red roses, made of the same material as the dress. It had large, yet tasteful looking ruffles on the bottom of it and a slight slit on the back, so Clove could walk. She had red pumps on that were actually pretty easy to walk in, considering the heels were only one inch tall. She had shiny black lipstick on and minimal eye makeup. To top it all off was a mini black top hat on her head. It was shifted to the right side of her head, and it complemented her braided hairstyle. She met up with Cato before they went down to the stables. He was wearing a fancy red suit decorated with small, red roses. He also had a black top hat on, although his was full size.

When Cato met Clove's eyes, he was stunned. "Y-you're so beautiful, Clove."

Clove felt a little uncomfortable at his remark, yet she was flattered. "So are you, Cato."

She tried to smile to ease the tension, but they were both so worked up about the opening ceremony that it was hard to feel at ease.

Cato, Clove, Avril, and Cato's stylist, Kinton, went down to the stables. There were tributes, stylists, horses, and chariots everywhere. Avril led them to the District 2 chariot, almost to the front of the line. The chariot was completely black and the horses were dark brown. Cato climbed up first and he helped Clove get on. They were extremely high up in the air and she couldn't help but feel a little nauseous. Clove had always had a fear of heights but she didn't want to appear weak in front of Cato so she tried to hide it as best she could.

Avril gave Clove and Cato a thumbs up, then her and Kinton left the stables. Clove tried to keep her breathing even and didn't look down. All of the tributes were soon positioned in their chariots. Her and Cato were second in line. The horses were trained so well from all the years they'd been doing this that they didn't need anybody to keep them on track.

All too soon, Glimmer and Marvel's chariot took off down the course. The ride would last roughly 20 minutes. They were going to ride around the Capitol square, all videotaped. There were screens all over so they could watch themselves, and their competition.

District 2's chariot lurched forward and the horses started on the path that was forever engrained in their brains. Clove felt her knees start to shake. Cato steadied her by grabbing her hand. He gave her a reassuring squeeze. "Remember to look fierce out there."

She squeezed his hand back. "Remember to look vicious."

Just when the horses were about to step out of the stables and into the Capitol square, Cato dropped Clove's hand and they both put on their threatening faces. Although Clove found it hard to not smile, considering that she was wearing such a perfect dress, and the crowd around them was going crazy. Clove glanced at the screen next to them and gasped. Her and Cato looked so perfect. Then the screen went to Glimmer and Marvel from 1. They also looked divine. Glimmer was wearing a dress made entirely out of jewels and Marvel was wearing an identical suit. Then District 3 showed up on the screen. They were wearing outfits with wires hanging down. For hats, they had antique looking television antennas. 4 had blue shimmering outfits, 5 had outfits that lit up in a thousand distracting lights, 6 was wearing what looked like space suits, 7 had on white geometric shaped clothes, 8 was decked out in ridiculous looking fabrics, 9 had brown plaited outfits, 10 had cowboy clothes on, 11 was just in overalls with weird tinfoil hats, and 12 was wearing… fire?

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	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

Yes, District 12 was wearing fire for the opening ceremony. They had on jet black fitted outfits with capes and headdresses that seemed to be on fire. It was obviously a synthetic flame, Clove deduced. Yet it looked so real. Clove had to admit that 12 was, probably for the first opening ceremony ever, stunning. And the crowd thought so, too. It seemed everyone in the Capitol was shouting, "District 12" over and over. It made Clove angry. She was terribly jealous.

Her and her stylist, Avril had thought for sure that Clove's outfit would be the envy of the Districts. And here were these… _poor people_ stealing the show. The cameras were locked on the flaming teenagers. And what were they doing now? Holding hands? Clove was fuming. All of the other district members were supposed to appear as competition, not as a _couple_. With their hand holding and their beaming, Clove had half a mind to jump out of the chariot and strangle both of them. Of course, that would never happen because of Clove's fear of heights. _Just wait until the Games, then you can do whatever you want to them._ Clove had to tell herself repeatedly. She had stopped waving and she wasn't appearing very threatening to the cameras, just pouty.

Cato had to bump into Clove to get her back on track. Her hand went back up to wave at the people. At least some of them were still looking at her and Cato.

"Wanna hold hands?" Cato asked her with a sly smile.

Clove was about to give in and grab Cato's hand, then she remembered that she was taken, and Menelaus might not like the look of the two of them grabbing each other for all to see. "No, that's okay. We're almost done riding, anyway. It wouldn't make much sense." Clove was trying to speak over the roar of the crowd. Eventually Cato got the message and he went back to waving and looking straight ahead.

Clove and Cato entered the city circle. Their ride was nearly over. Clove glanced at the screen and saw the girl from 12 holding a rose. Some simpleton had thrown it to her. People were screaming their names.

"Are they saying, Katpiss?" Clove asked Cato. She almost screamed it, hoping the cameras would catch it, yet they were still locked on the hand-holding, widely grinning fools.

Cato tried to laugh at Clove's joke, but he was furious, too. He didn't let it show as much as Clove had, but it was still evident in the rigid way his hand moved. The only thing that would calm him down was thinking about how good it will feel to have his hands around this Peeta's throat.

All twelve chariots made their way in the city circle, and Clove felt theirs stop. They were right in front of President Snow's mansion. The cameras finally found their way to other districts. When Clove and Cato popped up, she noticed the wrinkles in her face from the anger. She relaxed her face and tried to be calm.

Snow was giving some boring speech but all Clove focused on was the screens. She would almost dare the cameras to pan back to 12, and when they did, Clove felt a seed of hate growing in her. It kept increasing every time she saw Katpiss' rose and Peeta's wide smile. By the end of the ceremony, all Clove could think about was different ways she would kill the pair in the arena.

The national anthem played and the chariots started moving again. The cameras stayed on each district for roughly two seconds, then stayed at 12 when they got to them.

They were soon led to the training center, but not soon enough for Clove's taste. She was helped out by Kinton, then Cato jumped down. Avril rushed up to her. "Clove that was so awesome! You two looked wonderful. I couldn't take my eyes off of you."

Clove momentarily smiled at the compliment. She looked down at her dress and hoped that she could keep it. Then a flash of Katniss appeared in her head, and she knew that she would rather be taking her outfit home. She was mad at Avril for not thinking of the idea first and her smile disappeared. "Yeah well, everyone else in the Capitol didn't seem to think so."

Avril's expression turned sullen. Clove glanced around at the other tributes. Her eyes landed on Katniss and Peeta. She gave them the dirtiest look she could, filled with all the hate and jealousy she had to go through while watching them. The girl looked back at her with fear. Then she quickly looked back at her prep team. Clove scoffed. She was not going to be upstaged by a district whose richest member was still poorer than 2's poorest member.

Clove and Cato were led by Avril and Kinton to their floor in the training center. It was the same setup as the hotel, so they'd be back on the second floor. Not only would Avril and Kinton be staying with Clove and Cato on the second floor, but so would both of their prep teams. Clove hoped that she wouldn't bump into the weird Dresetta and weirder Jazz. Scarlet, Pierse, and Candola would also be staying at the training center. Besides all of their living quarters, there was also a dining room on each floor.

Clove couldn't wait to begin training. She would get to show off to all the other tributes, especially Cato. And they would be able to form an alliance with the other careers, and any other strong-looking people. More than anything, her hands were itching to get on some knives.

Before Clove could go in her room, Scarlet stopped her. "You are going to have so many sponsors! I was talking with some people during the opening ceremony, and a lot of them are willing to help you when you're in a bind."

"That's so great! Thanks, Scarlet. You're a great mentor," Clove replied back. Scarlet beamed at the compliment and left down the hall to go to either her room or Pierse's.

Clove entered her room and gasped. It was probably as big as her house. It had a giant bed and an even bigger window. She ran to the window and was surprised to see palm trees and a beach-like landscape. Then she saw the remote on her bed and was playing with all the different settings for the window. She decided on a dungeon scene. She had to prepare for the big day, and what better way than to think of torturing her victims? Clove sighed in anticipation for the Games. This is what she'd been training the entirety of her life for.

She entered the bathroom and saw that the toilet was the same from her previous hotel room, however this one was platinum instead of silver. The shower was even more elaborate than the hotel's. It had even more settings and dials. And the shower head was square, like the toilet. Clove decided to take a shower so she could play with all the settings. When Clove stepped out, she discovered that the bath mat activated heaters that dried her in seconds. There was also a box that dried and brushed her hair simultaneously. Clove had long hair and couldn't help but wish she had the box at home. She glanced in the mirror and saw how shiny and smooth her dark brown hair looked. Clove ran her fingers through it without difficulty.

The closet in the bedroom could be programmed to send any outfit in the Capitol to her. She decided on an elaborate looking crocheted white shirt, studded pants, and blue fringed sandals. Clove was enjoying dancing around her room when there was a knock on her door. It was Candola calling her to dinner.

Clove found her way down to the dining room. Cato, Scarlet, Pierse, and Candola were there. All of the food was served by Avoxes dressed in waiter's uniforms. Clove sat down and was offered wine by one of them. There was no way she'd be turning that down. She'd never had alcohol before, and how many more opportunities was she going to have to drink it before the Games? Then the food came. Everything looked so good, Clove didn't know where to start. She took a little of everything and started scarfing it all down while the adults made small talk. Cato and Clove were sitting next to each other. Cato was pounding back wine glass after glass. Clove could only take small sips at a time of hers because it tasted nasty to her. She gave Cato a disgusted look, but he only winked at her. Clove shuddered and returned to her food. For dessert, they had red velvet cake. Scarlet grinned when an Avox presented it. "I ordered it because of your opening ceremony outfits."

Clove stared at the cake. Red velvet was her favorite, but she could only have it for her birthdays, since her parents hated it. "I love red velvet cake! This is perfect Scarlet." Clove dug in and her trust and pride in her mentor only grew.

As soon as everyone was done eating cake, they all moved into a sitting room to watch the broadcast of the opening ceremony. Caesar Flickerman gave a small introduction and the first chariot was shown exiting the stables. Then the second. Clove loved how serious, yet humbled they looked. The sponsors were sure to love it. All the chariots went until the last, District 12. The camera definitely lingered on them for the rest of the ceremony. Clove could feel her fists clenching. She was getting so jealous about this one pair. Clove thought it was because they came from a poor district and didn't deserve all the attention. Whatever the reason, she finally knew how she was going to kill this 'girl on fire'. The program was over soon enough, with promises from Caesar that this was going to be, "The best Games yet!".

Clove and Cato were walking back to their rooms. Well, Clove was walking, Cato was stumbling from all the wine he consumed. She was just about to open her door when Cato caught her by the door frame. He was slurring his words so much that Clove could barely understand him. "Clove, you looked so beautiful today."

She backed up and gave a nervous laugh. "Thanks. Uh, I should probably get some rest before our first training session tomorrow. You should get some sleep, too." She was looking around for an out. She had nowhere else to go besides her room, but Cato was standing right in front of her door. He leaned close to Clove. She could smell the alcohol on his breath, it was so strong. Clove opened her mouth and tried not to breathe out of her nose.

"I've been thinking about kissing you since I saw you in that dress. No, before then. When you walked up on stage after your name was called in the Reaping." For a moment, Clove was mesmerized by Cato's green eyes, his dazzling smile.

She snapped out of it and started walking towards Cato's door, in hopes that he would follow her. He fell for it and thought Clove wanted to be alone in his room. When Cato was halfway to his door, Clove ran back to hers. She opened it and ran inside. Before she closed it, she said to Cato, "Seriously. Get some sleep. You're just wasted and have no idea what you're talking about. I'm with Menelaus. Good night." She shut the door exhaled.

Clove ran to her bed and fell asleep before her head even hit the pillow.

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**_Thanks for reading! Please R, F, & F :D  
_**


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

Clove had been having good dreams all that night and she woke up refreshed and happy.

One of her dreams was her and Cato during the bloodbath. All the other tributes were there, except they didn't have any faces, they were just grey human shapes. Her and Cato had completely destroyed every other tribute there before anyone even reached the cornucopia. The game makers were all so impressed with District 2's actions that they had let both of them be victors. They were both so excited to win the Hunger Games that Clove had kissed Cato, in a moment of passion. Remembering this part of the dream had troubled Clove, but she tried not to think to much of it. She was just excited, plus, she was dreaming. She couldn't be held accountable for her actions. And either way, her or Cato was going to die anyway so it didn't even matter how she felt about him.

Candola called Clove to breakfast while she was trying to remember her other dream. It came to her somewhere between the delicious strawberry pastries and the divine bread pudding.

She had been in the arena, and her and Katniss from 12 were the only two left. Katniss had killed Cato so Clove had killed Peeta. Clove finally had Katniss cornered, without any weapons or means of fighting. Clove relished in torturing Katniss during her last moments, which ended with Clove literally making Katniss a girl on fire with the use of matches and an easy burning fuel. Clove smiled at the remembrance of her dream.

Cato had not shown up to dine with them that morning. Clove either assumed it was from his guilt of trying to hit on her, or he was just so hungover he couldn't even open his eyes. She suspected it was probably the latter. Cato never really felt guilty about anything he did.

He'd better get himself out of bed by ten though, that was when they had to meet Candola by the elevator for training.

…

It was 9:40 a.m. and by the time Clove had gotten to the elevator, Cato and Candola were already there. She smiled awkwardly at the both of them, then kept her eyes from drifting over to Cato's face.

The training room took up the entire basement of the building. When they entered the room, there were about two other districts already there. Clove and Cato got the number 2 pinned to their backs. Clove looked at the other tributes there. It was the pairs from 4 and 5. People were forming a circle around the head trainer. Cato and Clove joined the tense circle and just waited in silence. No one wanted to speak in front of the head trainer. She was a tall, athletic, and mean looking woman named Atala.

To the left of Clove was Cato and to the right was the boy from 4. He looked even more scrawny close up and Clove was glad her and Cato had decided to not let him join their alliance. _He won't even last long anyway._ The boy let out a mucous filled cough and Clove turned her head away. That was when she discovered that this boy was sick. She didn't know why someone else from 4 didn't volunteer for him, though, that was another Career district. Next to him was the girl from 4, the only one that Clove had actually liked based off of appearances and personality. She was a quiet and reserved girl, yet very smart and tough. She was probably one of the biggest girls there, which only made Clove feel better about their future alliance.

It wasn't even 10 when all the other districts showed up. The last ones were Katniss and Peeta. Clove rolled her eyes. They always had to be last, to have all the attention on them. As soon as everyone was in a circle in front of Atala, she began speaking. Her voice sounded harsh and it commanded your attention. She was just droning on things that everyone already knew, so Clove decided to take a look at the other tributes and see if anyone was worthy of having an alliance with her.

The girl from 5 looked cunning and untrustworthy so she was out. The boy from 8 had an injured foot and Clove almost laughed out loud. There was no way that he stood a chance. There was that girl from 11. The little one, the one that probably had just slightly more of a chance than the injured boy. And the boy from 11. He was gigantic. Clove would have to take him out in his sleep when they joined forces. Then her eyes fell on Katniss, and she was looking back at her. Clove sneered at her and the girl looked away. _What a coward._

Atala finally stopped talking and let the tributes go where they wanted. Clove and Cato automatically headed over by the sharpest looking weapons.

"Hey, I'm Glimmer." The girl from 1 stuck her hand out at Clove. She may have a ridiculous name, but up close, she looked fierce. The look on her face was dead serious and she had maybe 5 inches on Clove.

"I'm Clove," she responded and returned the shake.

Cato walked over by them and they exchanged names. Clove was looking at Cato's face intently. She didn't know why, but she was looking for some sort of reaction when he looked at Glimmer. The girl was pretty. His eyes may have flashed once, but that could have been in Clove's imagination. Feeling eyes on him, he looked at Clove. He smiled at her. Clove looked back at Glimmer.

The girl gestured to her companion. "This is Marvel." He was definitely the biggest guy there. Clove took a second to look at his muscles. "I'm Clove." She enjoyed shaking hands with him. Cato introduced himself with a slightly irritated tone.

Then the girl from 4 scampered up without her fellow district member. "I'm Melissa," she said the four of them. They all nodded and gave their names. The main Careers were set. Clove and Melissa found themselves at the knives. Cato and Marvel were by the spears and swords, and Glimmer ran towards the bows and arrows. Clove caught a glimpse of Glimmer aiming for a target. When she released, it landed in the outer ring. Glimmer acted a little flustered and spent time investigating the bow, as if it were the problem.

"I'm uh, pretty good at this, if I do say so myself," Melissa said with fake arrogance. She was moving a throwing knife between her hands.

Clove laughed. "Prove it."

Melissa threw the knife and it just missed a dummy's heart. "That was a fluke."

Before she could try again, Clove turned around so her back was to the dummy. She flung the knife she was holding behind her. She whipped around to see it pierce its forehead.

Melissa gasped and clapped. "'Tis an honor to stand in your presence." They both laughed and continued to practice their throwing.

Clove suddenly remembered about the boy from Melissa's district and asked about him.

"Oh. He got picked and wouldn't let anyone volunteer for him. He said that he, 'needed to do this'. Whatever that means. I dunno, he's just weird." She shrugged her shoulders.

…

The tributes were done with the first day of training. They would be having breakfast and dinner on their own floors, but lunch in a big dining room with all the other tributes. Food is arranged on carts around the room and they serve themselves. Cato piled his plate with food so he could gain as much weight as possible before going into the arena. Thinking that this was a good strategy, Clove did the same, but she still had a lot less food than Cato. They sat down at a table. Melissa was done getting food next and sat next to Clove. Marvel sat across from Cato and Glimmer sat next to Marvel.

Glimmer kept batting her eyelashes at Marvel but he didn't seem to notice. He was busy looking at Melissa, who was looking at Cato, who was looking at Clove, who was focusing on her food.

Clove could feel Cato's eyes on her, but she was afraid to see the expression on his face. She knew that Cato had feelings for Clove again, maybe they never even left. But Clove had to stay faithful to Menelaus. She was probably just missing him, that had to be the logical explanation as to why she was thinking about Cato again.

Sensing the tension at the table, Marvel decided to open a conversation. "So… who are you guys most excited to kill?"

Clove laughed at his bluntness and immediately responded, "Katniss Everclean from 12."

Cato, who couldn't respond since his mouth was full, gestured at Clove with his fork and nodded.

Glimmer scanned the tables. She pointed to a girl. "Her. From 7."

They all looked at her. "She's gorgeous," Marvel said, with his mouth wide open. Clove had to agree, she was pretty.

Glimmer looked at them sheepishly. "I'm afraid that's the reason. I might be a little jealous, but it's so early in training. It's not like I've found a decent enough reason to want to kill anyone."

After that initial question from Marvel, it was easy for them to converse with one another. Clove silently admitted to herself that Glimmer wasn't all that bad. She had been training to be a Career longer than Clove, and she was almost as vicious. Plus, she never once said a word about shoes or make-up.

Clove also found Marvel to be funny and nice. You wouldn't know he was a Career by his personality, but as soon as they started talking about weapons, his eyes turned steely and his tone, serious.

Halfway between the meal, they all hear loud laughter. Clove looked in the direction it was coming from and saw Katniss and her boy wonder. She sneered at them, but they kept their eyes to themselves. _Laugh now, 12. You won't be able to when your carcass is at my feet, your blood pooling from my knife._

Glimmer redirected their attention with a small shriek.

"What's wrong?" Marvel asked her and held her arm.

Glimmer pulled something out of her pocket. It was a gold ring, with a tiny blade protruding from it. She pushed a hidden button and the blade disappeared, revealing a rose in its place.

"Sorry, sorry. I just put my hand in my pocket to see if my ring was still there and I felt the blade. It releases poison, so I freaked. But I think I'm okay."

Clove's eyes widened. That was going to be her token for the arena. All the tributes could have one, but Clove had completely forgotten. None of the tokens could be used as a weapon though, otherwise they'd be taken away. Glimmer might just get away with her ring, seeing as how the poisonous blade was hidden.

…

The first day of training was over and Clove was worn out. Career training was more strenuous, but now she had to focus on making friends with her fellow Careers, impressing the judges, all while thinking about the upcoming Games.

The clock on her nightstand read 9 o'clock. Clove figured it was a suitable time to go to bed, seeing as how the second day of training started at 10.

She slept without remembering her dreams.

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_**Thanks for reading, I hope you liked this chapter! The games start soon! Reviews are greatly appreciated, and please follow and favorite if you like the story. :D  
**_


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER NINE**

Clove woke up at 6 the next morning. It was the second day of training and she was pumped. She had all her energy back and she was ready to try other weapons out.

The breakfast was delicious. It was a lot of filling food, to help them gain weight. Cato piled his plate with eggs, sausage, and pancakes. Clove took some waffles and eggs. There were at least ten different syrups. Cato picked the blueberry one and Clove took a white and red swirled one. When she tasted it, her eyes flew open. It was delicious! The white was whipped cream and the red was cherry, all to the consistency of a thick syrup.

Pierse broke the sound of chewing in between bites of his pancake. "I want you two to focus on life-saving skills today. No weaponry."

Cato dropped his fork and Clove almost gagged on an egg. No weapons? "Why do we have to do that?" Cato asked angrily.

Clove could see a vein popping out in Pierse's head so Scarlet intervened. "Why do you have to do this? Hmm, let's see. In case you run out of food, can't get to a weapon, want to build up some skills that could end up helping you. Seriously, guys. The Hunger Games are not all about adding to your kill count."

Cato sighed dramatically. "Fine, fine. I guess some things could come in handy."

"Thank you," Scarlet and Pierse said at the same time.

Clove and Cato were momentarily creeped by the unison and looked at each other. They laughed, which caused Scarlet and Pierse to laugh.

Then Clove's thoughts turned to Cato and she realized that she couldn't lose him. It hit her that only one of them could survive and her mood turned to melancholy.

Cato noticed Clove's sudden sadness and said to her quietly, "What's wrong?"

Clove couldn't say anything or the tears would come. She put her fork on her plate and ran to her room. She slammed her door and laid face-down on her bed. She let the tears fall then. She was sobbing so loud that Cato could hear her as he was walking down the hallway.

He opened the door to her room and ran to her. "Clove?"

His voice surprised her and she lifted her face up, wiping away the tears. Cato brushed Clove's hair behind her ear. He was waiting for an explanation.

"I don't want to lose you." She said it with such a broken voice that Cato had to take a second to translate the words. He sat down on the bed next to her.

Clove was stunned that the sentence finally came out, right after she admitted to herself. She still liked Cato, maybe even loved him. He was just so different from Menelaus. Menelaus was the kind of person that always put others before himself. He always tried to make Clove laugh, and always brought her presents. But Cato was competitive like Clove. He liked to tease her to make her laugh, and his presents were rare moments of compassion and love. He was Clove's best friend, and that's what made him the perfect boyfriend.

Cato sat down next to Clove on her bed. "You're not going to lose me, Clove."

She raised her eyebrow and scoffed. "But you are. There's 24 people and only one comes out. That means one of us is going to die." The tears were spilling out again.

Cato pulled Clove into a warm embrace. "We'll figure it out."

Two hours later, Clove had a fresh face and they were back in the training room. Her and Cato decided to start with the fire starting station. They were there until they felt confident that they could start fires in their sleep.

Thresh walked by and Cato jumped up. "I'm going to go recruit him," he said, and left. Clove used her alone time by going over to the edible plants station. She could only absorb some of the plants' appearances before she started yawning so she left.

Cato walked back up to her with anger painted all over his face. "What happened?" Clove asked.

Cato shook his head. "He just said 'no'. That's it. No explanation… or anything. I don't get it."

Clove shrugged and she led him over to the shelter making station.

"This is stupid. We could just stay in the Cornucopia," Cato said.

Clove gave Cato a shove. "What if it's roofless this year. The Gamemakers are always changing things up."

Cato shoved Clove back. "If it's not, you're staying in a makeshift shelter while the rest of us are staying warm and dry."

Clove stuck her tongue out at him but they stayed at the station.

At dinnertime, Pierse asked the two if they followed his and Scarlet's instructions.

"Yes. We went to the fire starting, plants, and shelter stations," Clove replied. Pierse looked satisfied with the answer and they kept eating.

"What do you want us to do tomorrow?" Cato asked him. Pierse just said that he didn't care and went back to his roast beef.

"Tomorrow's also your private Gamemaker session, so make it count." Scarlet put pauses between the last three words to emphasize them. Clove already knew what she was going to do, and it involved a lot of knives.

That night, Clove was woken up at 3:30 from a terrible nightmare. She was sweating and breathing heavily. She had dreamt of watching Cato's death in the arena. He was getting torn apart by wild dogs. The worst part of it was that Clove was one of the dogs attacking Cato. She tried to get her breathing under control but was still troubled from the nightmare.

She got out of bed and opened her door. Clove tiptoed down the hallway and opened the door to Cato's room. She stepped in and was surprised to see his eyes wide open, staring at the television set. She walked further in and his eyes darted to her.

His face lit up at the sight of Clove. "Hey! Why are you up so late?" He got out of bed and walked toward her.

Clove's breathing was ragged and she couldn't speak. Cato brushed her hair out of her face again and hugged her. He held her until her breathing was deep and even.

"I - I had a nightmare," she sputtered out while they were walking to Cato's bed. He looked deep in her eyes and Clove felt her heart rate speed up.

"Tell me what happened," Cato urged. Clove sat down next to him and took a deep breath, telling Cato everything. Feeling the danger of crying, she focused on the television and swallowed back the tears.

Cato rubbed her back. "It's probably just stress. I'm fine, you're fine, it's okay." His voice was so soothing that Clove felt her eyelids grow heavy. She laid down in his bed and Cato pulled the covers up around her. She fell asleep listening to the light drops of rain outside.

When Clove woke up, she had to stifle a gasp. Cato was holding her. His arms were wrapped around her waist. His face looked so peaceful, she didn't want to wake him by moving. It was only seven, anyway. Breakfast was in an hour. So she settled down again and put her head on Cato's chest. Her head bobbed up and down with his breathing and she fell asleep again.

She was woken up again by the sound of the shower. Clove reached her hand out but couldn't feel Cato there. After she got her lucidity back, Clove knew that Cato was in the shower. She looked at the clock and saw there was half an hour until breakfast.

She walked back to her room without saying good-bye to Cato. They'd be seeing each other in less than an hour, anyway.

Clove stretched her arms over her head, feeling the pops of her back. She felt well rested for the first time since she'd been reaped.

The dining room was empty of people when Clove entered it, yet the food was all ready to be served. She collected her food and sat down. Cato appeared in the doorway with a smile on his face. "Sleep well?" he asked her.

Clove smiled back while she reached for a fork. "Yes, I did actually. You're very comfortable."

They had to stop their conversation because Candola walked in the room. "Where are Scarlet and Pierse?" she asked.

Clove and Cato shrugged their shoulders, causing Candola to release a sigh full of exasperation. She stormed down the hall, in search of the missing mentors.

"I guess everyone is late for breakfast today," Clove said.

"Wonder what those two are doing," Cato responded with a wink. Clove shuddered and tried to eat her sausage without gagging.

Both of them were practically dragged to breakfast by Candola. Scarlet had lipstick all over her mouth and Pierse had it… everywhere else.

Clove had to stifle a laugh and Cato pretended to cough. _Hopefully they'll find the time to get us sponsors in the arena._

In the training room, her and Cato focused on what they were going to show the Gamemakers for the private session.

During lunch, trainers started calling people down for their private sessions. Marvel went first. Glimmer was called next and Marvel didn't come back, so Clove assumed that after the tributes were done, there was a different exit.

Cato was next. Clove didn't want the other tributes to know that her and Cato were… whatever they were - she wasn't too sure herself - so when he was called, she just gave him a reassuring smile.

Her stomach was in knots and the butterflies were getting worse every second that Cato was in the room. She felt like she was going to throw up and she started getting light-headed.

After what seemed like hours, Clove was finally summoned for her session. The moment she stepped in the room, the nerves went away and were replaced by confidence and a bit of arrogance.

She glanced around and saw that the training room looked the same, except everything was replenished and looked brand new. She saw the Gamemakers up in their viewing box, with their eyes on Clove. Good, she had their full attention.

Clove cleared her throat and sauntered over to the table full of knives. She belted some around her waist, put one in each shoe, and grabbed two in her hands.

She took the two in her hands and threw them simultaneously at two dummies. They both struck their dummies right in the heart. The Gamemakers clapped, which only gave Clove more confidence.

She saw the Gauntlet - an obstacle course - to her left and decided to incorporate that to her routine. She climbed up to the highest step and as she was climbing, she took the knives out of her belt and threw them at targets, hitting the bull's-eyes every time. When she reached the top of the Gauntlet, Clove grabbed the last two knives she had, the ones in her boots, and took a deep breath.

She saw the last two knifeless dummies and calibrated where the knives would land. She turned around and did a back flip off of the Gauntlet. When she was mid-air, Clove released the knives and they landed perfectly, right in the dummies' foreheads.

The Gamemakers all stood up and cheered for Clove, especially when she stuck the landing. Clove gave a little bow and waited for the cheering to stop. One of the Gamemakers finally thanked Clove and told her she could go back to her room. She gave another little curtsey and walked confidently to the exit.

The elevator stopped on the second floor. Clove was too excited, she did not want to just go back to her room and wait for dinner. She danced over to Cato's door and lightly knocked.

He opened the door with a huge smile on his face, to match the one on Clove's. "How'd you do? As if I can't already tell," Clove asked him. They were both beaming, so confident that they had gotten the best score among the others. They both sat on Cato's bed, relishing in their awesomeness.

"I did great. I think I used every weapon in the place," Cato answered.

"I showed off all the ways you can kill someone with a knife. And I did a back flip," Clove bragged. Cato clapped for her and his smile faded. He just stared into Clove's brown eyes.

Then, very slowly, he leaned in and kissed her.

* * *

_**Thank you for reading. As always, please review telling me what you think. Follow and favorite if you like the story. Happy Hunger Games! **_


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